When I was in elementary school, my closest friend used a magewappa bento box.
Looking back now, that was actually quite a sophisticated choice for a child.
Most of us had plastic lunch boxes covered in cartoon characters, and I had several too.
My favorite was a round, two-tiered yellow one.
But only she carried a wooden bento box.
And she never seemed self-conscious about it at all.
She was always energetic and cheerful.
Good at sports.
The kind of girl who felt a little like the wind.
Her mother also had a sporty, free-spirited feeling that seemed different from the other mothers around us.
Very much the type to quietly go her own way.
And every time my father saw her lunch box, he would say,
“That’s a nice one. What a good bento box.”
I think I carried that small memory with me all the way into adulthood.
Somewhere along the way, magewappa became one of those things I thought:
“When I grow up, I want to use one too.”
Then this April, Moriyan returned to working at a company again.
I wanted to support him quietly by making lunch for him.
And at the same time, we wanted to save money little by little for our future dreams together.
That’s how our bento life began.
And if I was going to make lunch every day, I wanted to use something that would make me happy too.
The very first thing that came to mind was a magewappa bento box.
But once I started looking, I realized there were so many different kinds.
Different sizes.
Different prices.
Honestly, I hesitated quite a bit.
I wasn’t even sure I could keep making bentos consistently in the first place.
And using a wooden bento box also meant taking proper care of it.
I warned myself not to repeat my old donabe mistakes —
“No leaving it soaking in water this time.”
So I chose one that felt right for our current life and budget.
Compared to the expensive handmade ones, it was probably about a third of the price.
The wood also felt a little thinner than the one my childhood friend used to carry.
But I loved the gentle scent of hinoki cypress.
And more than anything, the rice tastes surprisingly good in it.
Cold rice in regular lunch boxes can become dry and hard, or sometimes soggy from the moisture of the side dishes.
But magewappa somehow avoids that.
Apparently, the wood naturally absorbs excess moisture and balances everything out.
And somehow, no matter what I put inside, it always looks a little beautiful.
Even plain white rice with a single pickled plum somehow feels complete inside a magewappa box.
And somehow, Moriyan’s bento-making routine has continued without interruption.
Three side dishes.
Don’t try too hard.
Use what we already have.
Those are my personal rules.
After washing the bento box with regular dish soap, I wipe it dry with a cloth and leave it open to air out.
I always place it on the kotatsu table in our tatami room.
For some reason, it feels like the breeziest spot in the house.
And then morning comes, and I fill it with rice again.
That’s our daily rhythm now.
It feels nice.
Honestly, I’m secretly surprised that this didn’t turn into another three-day phase.
Maybe it’s okay to trust myself a little more.
As the magewappa bento box slowly settles into our everyday life, I feel like a small sense of confidence is quietly settling into me too.
Ah, and by the way —
the reason I started posting bento photos on Instagram Stories recently is partly to stop myself from quitting after three days. haha
Even simple meals somehow feel a little special inside a magewappa bento box.
If you were curious, you can find a similar one here.
→ https://amzn.to/4cOLZ2v